Sixth legislative election wraps up in China's Macao SAR

MACAO - The election of the sixth Legislative Assembly of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) wrapped up early on Monday morning, with more than half of the eligible voters casting their ballots, Macao SAR's legislative election management committee said.

A total of 174,872 eligible voters cast their votes for the 14 directly-elected seats, with the turnout rate reaching 57.22 percent, up by 2.2 percentage points compared with the previous election, according to the preliminary data by the committee.

Meanwhile, a total of 5,500 eligible voters cast their ballots for the 12 indirectly-elected seats, with the turnout rate reaching 91 percent, the data showed.

The preliminary results showed that 14 candidates won the directly-elected seats, and 12 won the indirectly-elected seats.

After receiving the audited vote counting of direct and indirect election, the SAR chief executive will appoint another seven seats, adding the total seat number of the sixth Legislative Assembly to 33.

This year's legislative election has been held smoothly and orderly, and was carried out in accordance with the Basic Law and the Law of Legislative Election of the Macao SAR, president of the legislative election management committee Tong Hio Fong told reporters after the polling wrapped up.

After the preliminary results was announced, the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Macao said in a statement that it congratulates on the smooth progress of the sixth legislative election in Macao SAR and the sixth term of the Legislative Assembly.

According to the Basic Law of the Macao SAR, the Legislative Assembly shall be the legislature of the SAR, and also an important part of Macao SAR's political mechanism, the statement said.

A total of 186 candidates from 24 groups ran for the 14 directly-elected seats, while 15 candidates from five vocational groups ran for the 12 indirectly-elected seats.

In line with the Basic Law, the new legislature is composed of 33 seats including 14 directly-elected seats, 12 indirectly-elected seats, and seven others which will be appointed by the SAR chief executive.

The term of office of the sixth Legislative Assembly is four years, which will start in October 2017.